Students’ Voices and Inclusive Education for a Democratic Education

Abstract

This chapter argues for the need to engage with students’ voices in schools to promote inclusive and democratic learning contexts. Firstly, the chapter introduces a theoretical framework about inclusive and democratic education and points out two polysemous and controversial concepts with elements of convergence: students’ voices and participation in schools. Secondly, illustrative examples from research in primary and secondary schools that focused on students’ voices are discussed. Examples from research in primary schools where students’ voices were used as a key to develop inclusive education practices are presented. Listening to students’ voices is closely related to notions of inclusion since theories of inclusion support the idea of valuing all members’ views. Research on student participation in democratic secondary schools, which examined four areas of democratic participation are then described, followed by attempts to explore how a democratic school is conceived in relation to student participation. Finally, different challenges and opportunities that emerge in primary and secondary schools that adopt student voice approaches are discussed, in order to understand the link between the students’ role and the promotion of inclusive and democratic education in schools.KeywordsStudents’ voicesDemocratic educationSecondary schoolsEnglandSpainInclusion